The Merseyside Trades Union Council has called a demonstration at the Liberal Democrats’ annual conference. This has been billed as “against coalition cuts in public jobs and services” – but we want more.

Of course, we need to protect jobs. Every job lost to redundancy means a greater workload for those who remain. An injury to one really is an injury to all. We also need to stop the cuts that take away vital services, hard-won by generations of struggle. But these are not Liberal Democrat, Tory, or even coalition cuts – they are cuts by the ruling class, which we would be facing regardless of which party was in power.FIGHT THE CUTS: STRIKE, OCCUPY, ORGANISE!

Liverpool Solidarity Federation and others are forming a Radical Workers’ Bloc on the demonstration. We reject the notion that a different government will bring about a solution for us – the cuts will be defeated on the streets and on the picket lines, not at the ballot box.

We need to send a message not only to this coalition government but to all political parties. The working class will not take these attacks on our livelihood lying down. We do not need anyone’s permission to fight back, and we do not need politicians or bureaucrats to lead us.

Join us on the Radical Workers’ Bloc on 19th September. We will be marching from the Anglican Cathedral to the Echo Arena. Look for the red & black flags and banners.

The Radical Workers’ Bloc makes its markToday, over 4,000 people braved wind and rain to march and protest against the Lib Dems and the cuts agenda. It was a demonstration of the level of anger people feel – but also the willingness of their “leaders” to merely act as a safety valve, defusing that anger before it reaches the ruling class.

People assembled by the Anglican cathedral to march down to the docks where the protest was held. There were a number of trade union banners, as well as the banners of the Solidarity Federation and Anarchist Federation, whose membership made up theRadical Workers’ Bloc. Despite the rain, the huge turnout and musical accompaniments made it a lively atmosphere.

But whilst the spirit of the rank-and-file made the march vibrant, this was in spite the planning done by trade union leaders, not because of it.

The TUC simply accepted the police moving them away from the Echo Arena, though they later moaned about it to the Liverpool Echo. With the march. Rather than go through the main part of City Centre to the docks, the route may as well have been calculated to garner the smallest possible audience.

But we’ve seen this show before. Union leaders putting on the appearance of being oppositional to authority whilst following orders and acting as a conduit to get the working class to do the same.

It became farcical when the layout of the roads meant the march had to go past the point of protest and turn back upon itself to be able to feed into the rally. There was some laughter and cheering as the Radical Workers’ Bloc simply bypassed this by crossing the road and ending up at the front of the demonstration, beyond even the police.

However, there were cries of “no anarchists” from the Liverpool Socialist Singers and the police rushed forward to overtake us. This protest against the government was going to do exactly as it was told by the state, every step of the way.

At the rally, where 4,000 trade unionists were all-but funneled into a protest pen, various cossetted union big-wigs took to the stage to offer a bark which is never matched with bite.

Merseyside’s anarchists took this opportunity to hand out a pamphlet titled No War but Class War and make the argument for a self-organised workers’ movement that could not be demobilised from above. The response was largely receptive, and we were able to distribute several hundred leaflets.

We then took the lead from many others who left the bureaucrats to their speeches and went to warm up in the pub. One thing that we have seen, time and again, is that ordinary trade unionists share our assesment of their leaders. But anarchists often consigned themselves to shouting from the sidelines and alienating those who would perhaps be most sympathetic. We wanted to break that mold.

All-in-all, bar a brief and largely pointless appearence from English Defence League supporters later on, the day was a good one. But it will only be a success if people are motivated to organise themselves against capitalism, and rid themselves of the chains of union bureaucracy.

On Saturday (23rd October) members of the Solidarity Federation joined the Radical Workers Bloc on a march to demand an end to the cuts being imposed on the working class in the ‘austerity budget’ – the greatest attack on the working class in decades.

We join the fight against the cuts now because they will bring immediate and real hardship and suffering to working people. But the answer does not really lie in a readjustment of the government’s budget.

The real answer lies in a fundamental change in the way we organise our society and economy. The fight over cuts is symptomatic of the fight between the wealthy, the capitalists, and the workers. It concerns how the wealth generated in society is distributed: but a slight shift one way or the other is not enough.

No more do we want to see working people shoulder the burden for the rich: the burden of work which enriches them, or the burden of paying for a mess of their (the rich) own making. What we want is a fundamental shift so that all the wealth generated within society is shared equally by all.

No bank or capitalist controlling the means of making wealth and creaming off the profits. No false wealth being made by playing games on the money or commodity market. Just people in society working together to provide what is needed, for the benefit of all.

The text of the leaflet being distributed on the London anti-cuts march on Saturday 23rd October 2010.

The working class across Europe is facing the worst attacks on our standard of living, jobs and services for decades. We have been forced to pay for capitalism’s crisis since it began; redundancies, pay cuts, benefit cuts, increasing workloads for those who kept their jobs... the private and public sector alike.

As the scale of the cut-backs begins to sink in, there are signs of a growingmovement against the cuts, with hundreds attending public meetings across the country. Many, disenchanted with the anti-war marches and the lethargy of the unions, are arguing for more direct methods in this struggle.

We need to respond to the government’s attack with industrial direct action - strikes, occupations, work-to-rules, sabotage - as well as street-based civil disobedience. In France, there is indefinite strike action and workers have blockaded oil refineries. The Greek workers have been standing their ground for months. The strikes in Spain are picking up. This starts to sound like something which really could force the government to back down as europe-wide, the “necessity” for the cuts is revealed as naked class war.

With sufficient rank-and-file anger, the unions may be pushed into calling only the second general strike in British history. However, it’s us, not the union bosses who can stop cuts. We can’t put our faith in anything other than our solidarity and ability to organise. We must take a lead in organising ourselves rather than waiting on the TUC or anyone else to do it for us.

Most importantly, we need to recognise that stopping the cuts is more than just a numbers game. The biggest imaginable march past parliament won’t reverse policy. Only mass direct action, especially industrial action will.

On Saturday 26th March the Trades Union Congress has called for a march against the cuts, and there is going to be a South London feeder march starting at Kennington Park which we will be joining. South London is one of the areas to be hardest hit by the cuts and has seen some of the most inspiring resistance to their implementation with the storming and occupying of town halls, the occupying of libraries and university buildings along with large demonstrations and regular small actions.

Anarchists have played a key role in these struggles arguing that we fight the cuts based on the principles of solidarity, direct action, and self-organisation. We are calling on anarchists, libertarian communists and militant workers from across the country who agree with these principles to join us on the demonstration to provide a visible presence and a revolutionary alternative to the reformism of the TUC.

With sufficient rank-and-file anger, the trade unions may be pushed into calling a general strike – only the second in British history. However, it’s us, not the union bosses who can stop the cuts. All reformist unions can offer us is sellouts like Aaron Porter from the NUS. We can’t put our faith in anything other than our own solidarity and ability to organise. We must take a lead in organising action ourselves rather than waiting on the TUC or anyone else to do it for us.

We also intend to argue that it is capitalism that has caused the crisis that has led to these cuts and that in response to their class war we need to reciprocate: meeting cuts with direct action - strikes, occupations and civil disobedience - whilst fighting for a different world which puts human needs first.

Bring red and black flags, banners and propaganda. The workers movement needs anarchist ideas and methods more than ever if we're to beat the cuts.

Meet at 11am Kennington Park, South London.

Called by South London Solidarity Federation and the Anarchist Federation

Members of Northampton Solidarity Federation joined the masses on the streets of London on March 26 to protest against the brutal cuts being imposed by the government.

People were marching for many reasons: some still accepting the idea that cuts are necessary but wanting to slow them down or alter the focus, some suggesting that investment rather than cuts would stimulate the economy which in turn would reduce the deficit, many pointing out that if taxes were fully collected and if military interventions were curtailed the cuts would not be necessary.

Our message is that these cuts are not necessary, but that they arise from the continual class war between the capitalist elite and the working (and unemployed) masses. Distribution of wealth in society polarised greatly under the Labour government and now, on the back of a greed fueled crisis we face an unpecedented attack on the social wage, on the conditions of work and life for the great majority of the population.

Meanwhile, the rich continue to walk away with £millions: bankers' wages exceed their earnings before the crisis and wealthy magnates can capitalise on low property prices. Food prices rise as a result of traders' actions and profiteering.

Our call is not for a slowing down of the cuts. Nor is it to ensure that taxation is collected to render the cuts unnecessary. Our call is for a radical change of the way our society is structured so that we are not subject to the demands and foibles of the capitalist elite. It is for society and production to be taken into the hands of the working class themselves. An end to capitalist tyranny.

This demonstration must mark a begining, not an end. One banner we saw during the day declared "This (R)evolution is for display purposes only". If it only goes as far as a walk through the streets of London, that will be one of the truest statements of the day.

The anti-cuts movement should avoid the temptation of blaming public spending cuts on greedy bankers or Tory politicians. Given that bankers, and Tories, tend to be a pretty obnoxious lot it is perhaps understandable that they are used as hate figures by the left. However they are a symptom rather than the cause of the crisis.

The starting point in understanding the cuts are the changes in the ownership of wealth that have occurred over the last 30 years. The last three decades, under both Tory and Labour governments have seen the richest 10% of the population grab an increasing share of the wealth. Profits have steadily risen while the share of national output taken by wages has steadily declined, shrinking from around 60% in 1980 to 53% in 2007. Between 2000 and 2007, productivity increased at almost twice the rate of real wages. In other words, Britain worked harder, for less – and this was during the ‘good days’ of the economic boom.

The ability of the rich to grab the lion’s share of the profits has resulted in the real terms pay of many workers either stagnating or declining. This is reflected in the fact the population working on low pay has almost doubled from 12% in 1977 to over 22% today. The massive transference of society’s wealth to the rich has had two effects. As profits increased, the private wealth of a small minority exploded leaving the rich with ever larger amounts of money that needed investing, a process repeated around the world. As the wealth of the world’s richest grew they began to invest in ever-larger amounts, creating a tidal wave of hot money that circulated the globe in search of quicker and higher returns.

At the same time stagnating and falling wages in Britain meant that people increasingly turned to debt in order to get by. The banks acted as the brokers between the hot money and those seeking loans. Banks profits soared on the back of debt encouraging them to go on a lending frenzy handing out ever larger loans that could not be repaid. The rest is history; defaults on repayments began to grow and financial panic set in.

But even here we still have not reached the true cause of the financial crisis. For the crucial question is what has changed in Britain in the last 30 years that has allowed the rich to increase their share of the wealth? The answer is that there has been a dramatic shift in power in the battle between capitalism and organised labour.

From the second world war right up to the 1970’s there existed in Britain a powerful workplace-based trade union movement which was able to demand ever higher wages and increased spending on welfare and services. This process came to an abrupt end when Thatcherism defeated workplace militancy. This meant a shift in the balance of class forces in favour of the rich, who used their growing power to drive down wages and cut services.

The root cause of the financial crisis then is the defeat of organised workers. As profits grew at the expense of wages borrowing increased to make up the shortfall. Debt was used to pay the bills in the home and fund services and welfare provision. The rich having increased their share of the wealth then in effect lent the money back to us with the banks exploiting their position as intermediaries to increase profits. Bank lending then got out of hand leading to the current financial crisis. To fight the cuts therefore we need to organise and create a ‘crisis’ that will frighten the life out of capitalism.

Making the country ungovernable

All across the country there are rumblings of discontent. Town halls where cuts votes have been taking place have been stormed or occupied in Lewisham, Lambeth, Southampton, Haringey, Camden and Barnet. Hundreds have taken part in UK Uncut actions, shutting down the high street names engaged in the most blatant tax avoidance. New Cross library in South London, threatened with closure, was also occupied, while people in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire withdrew every single book in protest at plans to close it. This follows on from the student riots in November and December last year, which saw thousands take to the streets to demonstrate their anger at cuts to education funding and a tripling of university tuition fees.

For the most part these actions have been more than just symbolic, and have disrupted business as usual – whether that’s the normal day’s trading of a high street store or the passing of austerity measures in a council session. Disruption – and in particular economic damage – is something the government can’t ignore. It’s also something well within the power of ordinary people to do, as the aforementioned actions across Britain show. If we don’t like what the government is doing to the country, we must make the country ungovernable! Only by making austerity measures the more expensive option can we prevent their implementation.

Such a strategy will be opposed by the official representatives of the movement. For them, the goal is simply to ‘have our say’. Union leaders mostly hope to channel discontent with the Tories and their Lib Dem accomplices into an electoral swing to Labour in 4 years time – talking the talk but avoiding sustained industrial action in favour of symbolic marches and petitions.They conveniently forget the last 13 years of Labour government, and that many of the austerity measures today are simply an acceleration of Labour policies.

Labour politicians were first in line to milk the expenses system, tax pensions, send young working-class men and women to fight needless wars, enact increasingly authoritarian laws, privatise public services through the back door, as well as introduce university tuition fees despite promising not to, and the list goes on. As chancellor, Alistair Darling promised to implement cuts that would be “deeper and tougher” than during the Thatcher era if Labour won the last general election.

Make no mistake – the interests of union bureaucrats and labour politicians on the one hand, and the working class facing austerity on the other are diametrically opposed. The former want to harness popular anger to propel them back into power. To this end, they insist on “orderly mobilisation”, a movement managed from above by bureaucrats and careerists. Their role will always be to stage-manage popular discontent, release some pressure, and ensure it is never a significant danger to the ruling class.

Against this, thousands of ordinary workers and students have been showing the way, creating merry disorder and disruption. Such discontent could well go nowhere. But it could also build into an unstoppable force. Whilst bureaucrats sneer at those who refuse to be a prop for their posturing, the rest of us should be supporting them. The only reason that direct action has yet to win anything significant is because it’s still not the majority carrying it out. But mass direct action can bring any government to its knees.

Battling the bureaucrats

The TUC’s response to the government’s vicious cuts agenda has been milder than a diluted chicken korma, solely concentrating on an “orderly mobilisation” for the March 26 demonstration. Any other sort of movement by angry workers has been ignored or actively discouraged. Meanwhile, TUC-affiliated unions such as Unite and Unison have abandoned or even worked against militant workers in struggles such as at the Visteon car factory in North London, the Vestas wind turbine factory in the Isle of Wight and the Latin American cleaners in Central London.

Clearly, those looking to actually defeat the cuts will have to go it alone, without the support of Barber and his £150,000/year salary! Barber and the TUC have pitted themselves against all those aiming to materially improve their lives, organising a call centre at Congress House (TUC HQ) in order to collaborate with police to detain ‘troublemakers’ on the March 26 demonstration, the very same police who violently suppressed student demonstrations over tuition fees late last year leaving scores injured and 20 year-old Alfie Meadows requiring brain surgery after an unprovoked truncheon attack.

But the bureaucrats and careereists aren’t having it all their own way. National Union of Students leader Aaron Porter had to be rescued by police in Manchester, while his stand-in and a Labour MP were egged off the stage. In Glasgow he wasn’t so lucky and was ‘kettled’ by angry students, while TUC head honcho Brendan Barber was also literally left with egg on his face following an uninspiring, half-empty TUC Rally on campus at Goldsmiths College, South East London.

Name and shame blacklist collaborators

A construction worker is calling for Unite union officers who colluded in the blacklisting of trade unionists to be named and shamed. Five union officers have been identified by the Unite, but only one is being investigated. Colin Trousedale, who was a victim of blacklisting in the building industry, said: “It appears to me that these officers will go unpunished if it is left up to the hierarchy of the union both past and present! We must continue with our endeavours to unmask these wretches and make them face the wrath of their victims if nothing else. I have seen three comrades go to the grave without the chance of clearing their name or at least having the knowledge of who in our union betrayed them, I will not go to mine without justice for them and myself.”

We are very grateful to a comrade from Manchester Solidarity Federation for lending us a book entitled 'Building the Union: Studies on the growth of the workers' movement: Merseyside, 1756-1967'. Below we publish several extracts from the book specifically about anarcho-syndicalism locally in the early part of the 20th century. The essay is by Bob Holton.